Summertime, and the TV is cheesy

Exercise: 30 min (calisthenics/dancing)

It was a challenge to get myself to move today. I haven't exercised for the past three days, and it is always difficult for me to get back into the swing if I miss even one day. I couldn't face any of my DVDs, so I did a 15-minute routine that I found in O magazine (crunches, lunges, tricep work -- the usual) and followed that up with 15 minutes of dancing to music videos and then some stretching. I wish I had recorded Daddy Long Legs when it was on this weekend because there is a dance routine in that movie that would have given me a real workout!

Have any of you been sucked in by the slate of summer reality shows? I'm a TV junkie so I will watch practically anything, but I am trying to be more discriminating in my choices. When I saw the previews for Strip Search and Kept on VH1, I told myself that they were both a miss. However, when faced with mountains of laundry to fold my viewing standards quickly crumbled. Both of these shows are standard reality fare: get a group of guys in a house where they will be eliminated one by one as they compete for a job opportunity (on the former, it is a spot in a Las Vegas all-male revue; on the latter, it is a chance to be Jerry Hall's boy toy). The guys on Strip Search are average, while the guys on Kept are true eye candy. There is the requisite bickering that is every bit as bitchy as what you would expect to see in a house full of women. Luckily, the challenges aren't quite as goofy as those seen on other shows. Yes, I've added both of these silly shows to my season pass.

Another show that critics thought was going to be cheesy was Beauty and the Geek. Apparently anything associated with Ashton Kutcher can't be good in their minds. Well, I think that this show is cute. The contestants truly seem to be learning from each other. The producers take care to show the contestants in a favorable light instead cutting together the footage in a way that could be very embarrassing. I don't have patience for shows like Hell's Kitchen where the entertainment is derived from watching the contestants be humiliated by the presenter and each other.